Copy cell values, not formulas

Sometimes, when you copy the contents of a cell, you want to paste just the value and not the underlying formula that is displayed in the formula bar.

For example, you might want to copy the resulting value of a formula to a cell on another worksheet. Or you might want to delete the values that you used in a formula after you copied the resulting value to another cell on the worksheet. Both of these actions cause an invalid cell reference error (#REF!) error to appear in the destination cell, because the cells that contain the values that you used in the formula can no longer be referenced.

You can avoid this error by pasting the resulting values of formulas without the formula in destination cells.

On a worksheet, select the cells that contain the resulting values of a formula that you want to copy.

On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut You can also press CTRL+C.

Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

Tip To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste, and then click Paste Values.